


Tacet

by spiderine



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Reichenbach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-14
Updated: 2013-04-14
Packaged: 2017-12-08 11:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/760997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiderine/pseuds/spiderine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Music is a language which articulates what speech can not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tacet

**Author's Note:**

> A ficlet I wrote in about 15 minutes. Any errors are mine alone.

John is tired of hearing Sherlock play violin in the middle of the night. He goes to a second-hand store and buys an old clarinet. The next time Sherlock starts playing at three in the morning, John starts playing too. He hasn't played since his school days, and now he is so rusty that all he can play is scales. He plays them very badly. All night long, over and over, honking and squawking. 

John hears the violin pause, then pick up where it left off.

The next night Sherlock plays again, so John does as well. The following night it happens again, and then again. John's scales grow more melodious, his technique smoother. He switches to arpeggios.

John notices that Sherlock has begun to follow the key changes of his arpeggios. Soon Sherlock is using John's chord progressions as a springboard for brilliant ornament and ingenious variation. His violin dances circles around John's clarinet. Round and round the garden, like a teddy bear. 

They never speak of it, of course. Not once through all the nights of thrilling terror or days of ghastly blood. Not on the most nightmarish day in John's life.

At three in the morning John sits on the edge of his bed. Digital clocks do not tick. He listens to the sound of his own breath. Beside him sits a case, open, velvet-lined. In his hands he holds a clarinet. With great care, he disassembles and cleans each part of the instrument. Reed, mouthpiece, barrel, joint; each gently placed in its own compartment. He does not hesitate as he closes the case and fastens the latch. Click.


End file.
